THE SPIRIT OF OVERCOMING BLIND DATES WITH DISASTER 15 JULY 2015

Bending when stressed rather than breaking. Unavoidable stressors…accidents, tough times, deep pain, traumas & nightmares…surprise us. We’ve all been there, and all will be there. And some of you are there right now; and to you I say, “Hold on for another minute, hold on for another hour, and finally hold on for another day.” Or as leaders have said, “Never give up, never give up, never give up.” Refuse defeat.

WISDOM FROM EXPERIENCE. I have experienced a wide range of powerful stresses in my life, & I gained some valuable lessons from several of them. Interestingly, my lessons match what other resilient people found was helpful. During Beast Barracks at West Point, where we new cadets were intentionally put under lots of stress to imitate the stress of combat, I discovered the sun always rises on a new day. No matter how bad a day got, the next day would be a new day. Time & time in life, it has appeared that I was backed into a helpless, hopeless corner, but I would choose to persevere and hold on. I would choose LIFE. And life would surprise me by giving me another sunny day, another chance.

BAD STUFF HAPPENS, and it happens to good people. The first thing necessary to overcome these shocking stresses is to accept that it is happening. And when it happens, our minds & bodies do get stressed. We feel a loss of control. We feel a loss of connection. We feel life has betrayed us. “I don’t deserve this.” During that stress, your body quits any long-term construction (for instance, the sex drive & testosterone decreases), & focuses on mobilizing such things as your flight or fight instincts. This makes sense, if a tsunami were to hit your area, you would not be out putting in fencing on your land or shingling your roof…you’d be trying to evacuate to a safe place. Another thing that happens is that we try to make sense of it…how?…why?…and then people often blame God…& quietly become bitter towards God. Another response is to crawl away into some “cave” and lick our wounds. Isolation may help temporarily—but it is NOT part of any long term solution. Fellowship (incl. prayer) with both God & supportive people is part of a long term solution. In fact, the Word of God says we are born into trouble, and God says we need to choose life. YES indeed, choose life. Perseverance is a choice. Strength & hope are inner resources that can be obtained, they are available. Poor choices incl. things like depression & uncontrolled anger, and poor beliefs about events. Poor choices are reframing the positives in our life as insignificant, such as “He really doesn’t care.”

SOCIAL STRESSES. Various people over the yrs. have mentioned where they would like to live. The suicide rates of India & Russia are relatively high. The rates for the U.S., U.K., & China are medium. The suicide rates for Brazil are relatively low. I have discussed in these posts how the Illuminati have brainstormed how to overwhelm us here in America with stress. If things go according to plan, Americans will experience increasing stress. If we go back to research published in 1995 by various primate & psychosomatic medical researchers, one can read how researchers discovered how to kill monkeys with stress! If you create an unstable social dominance system, the monkeys will be subjected to long term stress which creates coronary artery disease…atherosclerosis & heart attacks! The open borders with all kinds of illegal & legal immigrants create social stress. The social changes …for instance…giving homosexuals a new social status…creates social stress. I have only mentioned two obvious ones—you can think of others. And social stresses lead to elevated heart attack rates! My friend, refuse to let the evil elite win, take charge of your life and move forward.

FROM STRESS TO SUCCESS. At least it is easier for my readers to realize how we are united in pain when society as a whole is stressed. But really, no person is an island. We all influence things around us. Those 1 million women who are annually raped hurt society as a whole. Those 6.5 million Americans who experience a violent crime hurt society as a whole. But look at nations such as Germany, Poland and France who suffered so much as peoples during WW 2. They did heal. I love seeing good role models. Corrie Ten Blom was one. Helen Keller is another. We need each other. We can make it together. Americans can pull together like they have before. Americans can find ways to get some positive momentum going in this nation. We can move forward. But the first step is facing facts. No sense to worry ourselves sick about the future. The goal is growth & life, incl. spiritual growth & life. A righteous man keeps his hope. Think of those who have done it before us, some with more problems than we face, & if he or she could choose life & thrive in spite of stress—the possibility exists each of us can do that too. And collectively as a nation we can too. Hang around & see if life surprises you with a miracle! Further along, the enormous awful disaster will not seem such a big deal. In the workplace, I learned that a few days of vacation would change my perspective, large problems would shrink to their proper magnitude. This taught me how easy it is to enlarge something out of its true size.

DIGGING A HOLE FOR OURSELVES v. “DIGGING” LIFE. When we lose a spouse, a job or a piece of property, we can personalize it, and allow it to damage our self-esteem. We are basing our self-esteem on things we think others value. Most important, is what does God think of you? Remember you are a work in progress. Rather than allowing negative thoughts to dominate us, let us think Christlike. Rather than fight or flight—let us face life with the assertiveness that Christ had. Don’t be hostile, stay peaceful, and work with the situation rather than fighting it. Christ did not let others walk over him. Respect yourself & others, and teach others to be respectful. Being assertive is part of the answer to dealing with stressful situations. And once you have overcome, then as an overcomer you have a ministry…you have something to share with others. And as you reach out to others, you will continue to help yourself. Just don’t be like Job’s friends…be empathetic. One of the negatives of stress…is how we will feel we have no control. This explains why a fighter pilot will feel less stress than his crew—he still has a sense of control…they don’t. Find ways to do something positive so you feel like you have some control. No doubt we are going to be surprised with more blind dates with disasters…the question is how we will respond. Let us choose life. Let us choose strength. Let us reject defeat. Let us hang together & support each other. Let us find something positive to do so that we don’t feel like we have no control. Be blessed my friend.